Chamber and committees

Business births, deaths and survival rates - based on VAT/PAYE registrations and de-registrations - are produced by the Office for National Statistics within their Business Demography publications. Data are not published for parliamentary regions, however data are available by local authority area. Data are not available on a monthly basis, only on a calendar year basis. Tables 2.1(a), (b) and (c) at the link below provide the business deaths by local authority areas, in Scotland, for 2015 to 2020.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/datasets/businessdemographyreferencetable

Responsibility for the routine maintenance, upkeep and management of burial grounds in Scotland rests with the relevant burial authority. A burial authority may be a local authority or a private owner. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act (as amended), owners must ensure any premises they are responsible for are maintained to a safe standard for both employees and visiting persons.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of implementing the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016. Under this Act Scottish Ministers have powers to appoint Inspectors of Burial and to make regulations about the management of burial grounds. The Scottish Government have reconvened the Burial Regulations Working Group to consider the regulation of burial authorities and grounds in Scotland, with the next meeting due to take place on the 9th December 2021.

At this time the Scottish Government has no plans to provide financial support to local community groups for the maintenance of burial grounds.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-04721 on 8 December 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government intends to publish the 2019-2020 liquor licensing statistics by mid-December 2021. Work is also currently underway to ingather the relevant information for the 2020-2021 liquor licensing statistics from individual independent Licensing Boards with the intention of publishing this data in early March 2022.

The following electric vehicle charging points have been installed at Core Scottish Government buildings or premises in each of the last four financial years, including 2021-22 to date

2018-2019

Dumfries

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Thurso

2 x wall mounted smart sockets

Bonnington, Edinburgh

8 x wall mounted smart sockets

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual charging post

2019-2020

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

6 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 50kW triple outlet

1 x 22kW dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

1 x 22kW dual outlet

4 x 7kW dual outlet

Marine Lab, Aberdeen

4 x 7kW dual outlet

2 x 22kW dual outlet

Faskally

1 x 7kW dual outlet

Cameron House, Oban

2 x 7kW dual outlet

1 x 22W dual outlet

Longman House, Inverness

2 x 22W dual outlet

Atlantic Quay, Galsgow

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Tankerness, Orkney

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

Stornoway

1 x 7kW dual outlet wallbox

2020-21

Projects delayed due to Covid.

2021-2022

Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

1 x 22kw dual outlet

Saughton House, Edinburgh

2 x 22kw dual outlet

Legal aid is currently available to meet the costs of mediation where appropriate. Again, interaction between mediation and legal aid is a matter that will be considered a part of development of a Bill and I refer to my response to
‎ S6W-04609 on 8 December 2021. In the meantime, the Scottish Government is actively working with stakeholders to expand the availability of mediation and arbitration services within the civil justice system to give our citizens, businesses and organisations access to flexible, affordable and less stressful means of settling disputes, benefitting them and saving time in courts.

The Scottish Government is making available £2.332 million to the Scottish Legal Aid Board in 2021-22 to support projects offering in court expert advice and representation to help people tackle and resolve a wide range of problems including debt, housing, homelessness and small claims court actions.

The Scottish Government is also making available £100k to Scottish Mediation and £115k to the Scottish Arbitration Centre in 2021-22 to promote and expand the provision of Mediation and Arbitration services in Scotland.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There is no system of coroners' inquests in Scotland unlike England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The responsibility for the investigation of any death that requires further explanation rests with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Any sudden, suspicious, unexpected or unexplained death and any death which has occurred in circumstances which give rise to public concern, can result in a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) a public examination of the circumstances of that death conducted before a sheriff.

Legal aid is available for relatives participating in an FAI on the same basis as for civil proceedings and the same statutory tests must be met.

Civil legal aid has generous financial eligibility thresholds and those who are entitled to participate in an FAI, such as family, are assumed to have probable cause. In terms of assessing ‘reasonableness’ the Scottish Legal Aid Board expects that the Procurator Fiscal will usually be able to represent the interests of the relatives. However, where a relative of a person who died in prison or police custody applies, SLAB will look favourably on the application.

SLAB holds data in respect of applications from 2012 only. In respect of FAIs I can confirm that since 2012 there has been a total of 134 applications received, of which 111 were granted. That is a grant rate of approximately 83%.

In the financial year 2012-13 90% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2013-14 78% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2014-15 71% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2015-16 93% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2016-17 88% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2017-18 87% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2018-19 79% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2019-20 81% of applications received were granted.

In the financial year 2020-21 86% of applications received were granted.

Substance misuse services (often catering for drugs and alcohol misuse) are accessible either by open access or through GP referral to these services for review and support. These vary across Health boards with regards to support and resource available and mode of initial access.

This information is not held centrally.